Best hotels of the Italian Lakes

A muse for romantic poets and hideaway for hollywood heartthrobs, the Italian Lakes are the classic, centuries-old retreat for smart Europeans. There are the grande dame hotels, of course, but new swaggering divas are also making a noise, and behind the scenes are quieter, undiscovered ingenues, says Lee Marshall

The Italian Lakes always make me feel underdressed. These are linen-suit, change-for-dinner places; and it seems appropriate that the person most associated with them is the impeccably groomed George Clooney, who has a villa on Lake Como. Wealthy Austrians, Swiss and Germans have always descended on Garda, Maggiore and Como to visit gardens, wander the cool interiors of historic villas and bob about on boats. But alongside the past-epoch magnificence of hotels such as Villa d'Este, there are handsomer, fresher faces. Recent years have seen the arrival of smaller and more stylish places to stay as well as some seriously opulent - and curious - big hitters. Here are eight of the most interesting on the three main lakes.

Pictured: a view of the Isola Bella from Villa e Palazzo Aminta on Lake Maggiore

Grand Hotel A Villa Feltrinelli

The favourite European hotel of some of the most demanding people on the planet, Feltrinelli is a baby-grand with full pedigree and punch. Resembling a Battenburg cake, and decorated with turrets and windows in the shape of dissected orange pieces, it is wonderfully lavish and Tender is the Night. Just to be here feels like being a member of the most excellent of private clubs, with pot-bellied sails appearing through the mists of the lake in the morning, lemonia to wander through in the heat of the day, and pages of perfect lime-green lawns to lie on while thinking of Mussolini. Although the villa had been the summer retreat of one of Italy's wealthiest families in the late 1800s, between 1943 and 1945 the Italian dictator lived here while running the Fascist puppet republic of Salò (although the view of the water from his bedroom - now known as the Magnolia Suite - didn't appeal to him; Mussolini hated lakes). In the 1990s it was bought by legendary hotelier Bob Burns, who set about turning it into his perfect summer house; but, uncompromising to the last and with vast budgets blown, he opened it as a hotel in 2001. With towers and frescoes, pools of marble and an entirely enchanting mirror-walled drawing room, Feltrinelli delivers on every level. A ratio of 85 staff to a maximum of 42 guests means the service is extraordinary. The 13 rooms in the main house may be darker than the relatively new, lighter, brighter ones scattered across the park, but they are magnificent, and each has a unique and intriguing history. Eat like a nobleman here, in the Michelin-starred restaurant of young chef Stefano Baiocco, who studied under Ferran Adrià at El Bulli. He dishes up every permutation of tomato and mozzarella, as well as vitello tonnato with tiny, understated, crisped-up capers, and heavenly milk crêpes filled with yogurt foam, ginger and rosemary syrup. Staying here is undeniably expensive. Beg, borrow or steal to make it happen at least once in your lifetime.

Villa Arcadio

Lake Garda

This handsome stone villa has one of the most spectacular views of Lake Garda you're likely to find: the eye is led down over a declivity of vine-planted terraces and olive groves to the pretty lakeside frontage of Salò, then across the cobalt-blue surface of the lake and up again to the rugged massif of Monte Baldo on the other side. Seen from here, placid Garda seems more sea than lake. Once a convent, Villa Arcadio was a near ruin when it was bought by its current owners, an Italian textile merchant with a passion for antiques and his Finnish wife. After extensive restoration, the villa opened as an 18-room boutique hotel in 2006. The attention to detail is really impressive: the owners toyed for a while with the idea of making this their own holiday home, and it has been restored and decorated as if it were, with an eye more on getting it right than on making a return on the investment. The natural colour scheme extends to bare white-cream walls, but the minimalism is countered by museum-like pieces, including the grandfather clock in the restaurant and the original Mario Schifano pop-art paintings that liven up the sitting room. Service, which is provided by a mix of Finnish and Italian staff, is excellent. Villa Arcadio also has the bonus of a very good restaurant, which punches above the hotel's four-star weight. Whatever else you order, don't miss the ravioli filled with Bagoss, a full-flavoured, aromatic cheese from the mountain valleys above Brescia.

Castadiva Resort & Spa

Lake Como

You have to go back to 1873, when a group of local businessmen inaugurated the Villa d'Este, to find a Lake Como hotel opening on the scale of CastaDiva. On the Como branch of the lake, but on its secluded eastern shore, this five-star spa resort is surrounded by about 26,000 square metres of verdant lakeside gardens. Its historic heart is the 19th-century Villa Roccabruna, which once belonged to soprano Giuditta Pasta, hence the operatic names of the hotel and the eight other guest villas in the grounds. You have everything you need here on your own private estate. There's a dock for water-taxi arrivals, a spa with scenographic treatment rooms, a top-notch, creative Italian restaurant (with a punishingly priced and not entirely impressive wine list), a park where you can work up an appetite for dinner, and a swimming pool that floats on a hi-tech raft (and at night is transformed into a son et lumière spectacle with an illuminated fountain and operatic soundtrack). If all that sounds a little theatrical, not to say brash, it is. CastaDiva attracts a high proportion of Russian visitors, and with the purpose-built modern annexes in the grounds, it does feel a little like a very high-end holiday village. Of the 10 rooms and suites in the main villa, the best are the three top-floor CastaDiva suites. Although it's the most hotel-like of the villas in the park, Dorabella is one of the best-value options; each room has a terrace or garden with lake views.

Relais Regina Teodolinda

Lake Como

The problem with a lot of grand villa-hotels on the Italian Lakes is that few manage to recreate the relaxed break as it would have been experienced by the well-off Milanese families who summered here in the past; those that do tend to be up in the hills or on the wrong side of the lake road. Six-suite Relais Regina Teodolinda delivers comfortable informality, on the lake. It's the pet project of the scion of a Neapolitan hotel dynasty, and perhaps that's why it has the laid-back charm associated with the south. Antiques alternate with modern touches - a jazzy bedhead, a plump cream armchair - and the original worn majolica floor tiles and faded frescoes fit in well with the air of faded gentility. The first-floor suites are great (though the two low-ceilinged attic rooms are to be avoided). The pool is small, but keen swimmers can jump in the lake at the end of the garden.

Relais Villa Vittoria

Lake Como

Under the same management as its next-door neighbour Relais Regina Teodolinda, Relais Villa Vittoria is Lake Como's newest boutique hotel. It is a little smarter than its sister property, with white drapes, stone walls sponged with earth hues, and the occasional zebra splash of black-and-white on cushions and bedheads. Of the 12 rooms, the affordable Cozy doubles are just that, but lack a lake view; if that is essential, the stylish Romantic Lake View Rooms, which have balconies, are better value than the spacious Lake View Suite. There's a restaurant serving regional dishes such as fried lavaret (a lake fish), with sage, and an atmospheric cellar wine bar for tastings. Use of kayaks and bikes is free, the former useful for peeking into Mr Clooney's villa, a short paddle south of here. An infinity pool and a mini-spa with a Moroccan flavour add to the hotel's considerable charms.

Villa e Palazzo Aminta

Lake Maggiore

The first impression of this impeccably run, 67-room hotel on the classic Lake Maggiore riviera at Stresa is that it's a bit too opulent. It emerged from a top-to-toe renovation in 2008, and its coloured marble floors, twisty stucco columns, silk cushions, Chinese vases, Murano chandeliers, gilded mirrors and neoclassical busts scarcely leave one room to breathe. But after that first bout of dizziness, the quality of the detail comes through. Those Aubusson tapestries on the wall in the downstairs sitting room are authentic; like most of the other antiques and works of art that fill the place, they come from the private collection of the owners, Beatrice and Roberto Zanetta. The attention to detail continues in the bedrooms, with their fine-cotton bed linen and goose-down duvets. The downstairs spa is a delight, its playful look inspired in equal measures by Ancient Rome and the Taj Mahal. And while there is some noise from the lakeside road that runs in front of the hotel, at least it's below the level of the pool and bar terrace, leaving a clear view across the lake to the Borromeo Islands. This is also one of those hotels where the service is so good you find yourself inventing challenges just to see how they react - annoyingly well, in my experience.

Residenza Dolce Vita

Lake Maggiore

Perhaps it was the forgettable name that let this attractive and reasonably priced 23-suite spa hotel in the Italian Lakes pass under the radar when it opened in spring 2009. Or maybe it was the fact that the style of the interiors is neither sumptuous nor shabby-chic, but rather a sort of functional simplicity (in fact, the work of Milanese lifestyle guru Alessandro Agrati of Culti). However, Residenza Dolce Vita has more than enough going for it to make up for the sometimes bland look of the place. First, there's the location: on a lofty terrace overlooking Lake Maggiore, just north of Verbania. The hotel, the reincarnation of a belle époque thermal retreat that went into decline, blends in with the pretty village of Ghiffa, but its height gives the front-facing rooms (all with balconies or terraces) unobstructed lake views. Then there's the Aquavitae spa: here Agrati's stone, glass and natural-wood minimalism really comes into its own. Use of the sauna, steam bath, hydromassage pool, chill-out area and gym is included in the room price, and treatments begin at €35. Perhaps most impressive is the restaurant: chef Roberto Barboni is a talent to watch, and although it would be nice to throw a splash of colour at the beige, cream and brown dining room, there's no faulting the technique or taste of dishes such as barely steamed asparagus on a sheet of balsamic vinegar gelatine. And the prices are right, too. You can have a delicious dinner, with wine, for around €50 a head. This cool and calm hotel is an excellent choice for an affordable lake break; and it's worth checking out the website for offers that include massages, dinner and other frills.

Hotel Pironi

Lake Maggiore

Many visitors to Lake Maggiore limit themselves to the villas and islands of the southern reaches, around Stresa and Gardone. But those who continue up the western shore past Verbania, on the way to Locarno in Switzerland, are treated to a wilder and more romantic atmosphere as the lake narrows and the mountains close in. The real revelation on this stretch is Cannobio, a lovely medieval town with porticoes, gabled houses and cobbled streets, very different from the 19th-century layouts further south. One of the prettiest houses in the centro storico - a wedge-shaped palazzo that looks like a medieval predecessor to New York's Flatiron Building - is occupied by Hotel Pironi, a 12-room gem whose colourful interior contrasts with its rather fortress-like outer wrapper. It's a warren of steps and rooms of different sizes in vibrant pastels that echo the palette of early-Renaissance frescoes. The breakfast room, with an 18th-century Venetian terrazzo floor, is unexpectedly grand, and service is friendly and professional.